With Nicholas Cage, you never really know what
you are going to get quality wise but these days, I would put my money on
mediocrity. And I would have hit the jackpot on this one. One good hint is
that it was filmed in Bulgaria; along with Romania it has become the place
where DTV films go to die. They must have a set though that looks just like
small town America - probably used in the old Communist days as a training
ground for spies. Small town that it may be but they have a police force
and SWAT team that could take over a small country. Thanks to our militarization
of the police in America. Well, they need it here.
It begins with some nonsensical scene in
Afghanistan as a woman transfers bazillions of dollars to banks all over
the world on her computer. She and her partner want to hightail it out of
the country. So, this is where all the money disappeared to. Probably close
to the truth. But they are stopped by a group of American mercenaries who
demand $1 million. Like an idiot the guy refuses and is killed. The group
says, well I guess we will have to go steal it at a bank in America. Ok.
Perfect sense. They pick a town and bank in Massachusetts and load up for
a war. By going to the friendly gun dealer on the corner and asking for sniper
rifles, AK-47s, hand grenades - would you like that gift wrapped?
They just didn't count on a middle-aged
pudgy about to retire cop getting in the way. Nicholas Cage. And his partner
is his son-in-law who just found out his wife is pregnant. And that is the
day they are assigned a teenager to take along with them as a community outreach.
Whose mother is the head nurse in the hospital. It is set up for cliché
heaven as they come across these masterminds robbing the bank. An attractive
Interpol agent is on hand and tells the SWAT commander that this group are
brilliant and have one back up plan behind another. They should have told
the scriptwriter what that was because they have no plan. It is dimwitted
but has a lot of firepower and no surprises - except how lame much of the
narrative is. Not sure if Cage intentionally put on weight for this but he
looks puffy and old. Sooner or later, we all get there.
